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(Model) G; W. PLUMMER. LETTER AND'BILL EILE- Patented AprEl, 1884. 4

GEORGENV. PLUMMER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO ANDREW.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOBS.

LETTER AND BILL FILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 295,940, dated April 1, 1884.

Application filed January 24, 1892. (Model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. PLUMMER,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, inthe county of Kings and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Letter and Bill Files, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to a bill-file such as shown in Letters Patent N 0. 241,716, granted to me by the United States May 17, 1881; and it is designed to provide means for compressing and holding down evenly and uniformly the leaves of the book employed in such hillfile either before or after the bills, letters, or other papers have been inserted between them.

Prior to my invention bill-files have been provided with various kinds of springs, and hence a spring for a bill-file is not claimed, broadly. The natureand objects of my improved spring-holder will, however, be ap parent from the following description and the down upon the book.

drawers of a chest or file cabinet, can be conveniently handled. The tubes 13 are secured to the base-board at properintervals apart in a line a little in front of the back board. These tubes extend nearly to a level with the top edge of the back and side boards, and the end tubes of the series are at a little distance from the end board.

The book 0, for receiving the papers to be filed and indexed, is composed of a suitable number of superposed single or folded sheets, which are perforated on a line near their back edges or fold so as to receive and fit loosely upon the tubes. These leaves are indexed in any suitable wayas, for example,

by lettered tabs, or by having their front marwhen such papers are filed between them.

The tubes will be several times as high as the thickness of the book before any papers are inserted, so as to admit of the filing of a large number of the same.

In filing papers or letters between the leaves of the book it will be found that owing to their frequently folded or rumpled condition they will, after being inserted between the leaves, have a tendency to curl up or pucker, so as to cause an undue expansion of the book, which is objectionable, since it will be expanded to its limit by the introduction of a fewer number of papers than would cause such expan sion if they were all perfectly flat and smooth. Hence it is desirable to provide a yielding pressure upon the'leaves in order to hold them down. It is also desirable to hold down the front indexed edges of the book, so that in pushing this file box or drawer into a cabinet the leaves will not be caught and bent. -It is also desirable to arrange the device for thus pressing upon the leaves so that it can be conveniently manipulated and swung back out of the way when it is desired to remove the book from the tubes. To attain these ends I provide a swinging bail, D, which extends across the interior of the box, and is hinged at its ends to the end boards of the latter by means of studs or screws E or other equivalent means. Within the box at each of its two corners, that are formed at the junction of the back board and the endboards, I arrange a coiled or similar spring, F, having a laterally-projecting spring-arm, f, extending forward and parallel with the end boards. These spring-arms are made sufficiently long to rest and bear upon studs or knobs G, that are formed with or con nected to the sides of the swinging bail. These spring-arms, acting upon the studs or knobs, normally hold the transverse front bar of the bail down upon the book, and as this front bar crosses the book along its entire length, it will upper edge of the back board.

hold down its leaves, and at the same time yield as the book is expanded. The front cross-bar of the bail is bent to form a handle, H, by means of which it can be readily raised when it is desired to relieve the pressure from the book, in order to insert papers between the leaves. It will be seen that when the bail is raised to the vertical position, as shown by dotted lines in the drawings, the springs pressing downwardly and vertically 011 the bail will maintain thebailin such elevated position; or, if the bail is slightly moved from this vertical position toward the back board, the springs will then act to swing the bail down upon said back board, where it will be entirely out of the way, and thus permit of the removal of the book.

It will be seen from the above that the bail embraces'thebook-that is to say, its front bar extends across the same, and its side bars are pivoted at points beyond the ends ofthebookwhereby the bail,while serving to hold down the leaves, as already described, will in nowise interfere with the insertion of papers be tween the leaves, or the removal of the book after the bail has been swung round upon the The springarms will be curved near the coils from which they project, and of which they form a part, so as to adapt them to bear with an equable pressure upon the studs, which,when the bail is turned upon its hinges, move in circular paths. If so desired, these studs or knobs can consist of set-screws passing through sleeves use,or when it is desired to increase the springpressure, the screws can be loosened and the sleeves shifted along the side bars of the bail toward the front cross-bar of the latter, after which the screws can be tightened up on the bail in order to hold the sleeves in their adjustment.

As a simple and effective way of hinging the bail, its ends can be bent to form eyes, through which screws will be passed and screwed into the end boards of the box or drawer. The inner ends of the spring-coils in the corner of the box can be secured to the base-board, or to a strip or bar fastened down upon the base-board,

as preferred. The elasticity of the coil and its arm render'these springs effective and durable, and, being thus located in the corner of the box, they will be out of the way and take up but little room, so that only a small space need be left between the ends of the book and the inner walls of the side boards.

I may dispense with the coiled part of the spring F, and cause the inherent elasticity of the wire itself to constitute the spring-arms f, and the ends of the spring-wire 1* may be extended through the bottom or base board of the box and be riveted to the under side thereof.

\Vhat I claim is The combination, substantially as described, of a cradle or box, A, having end boards, 0, a swinging bail, D, having bent ends pivoted to the said end boards,and provided with studs or knobs G between its pivot and its horizontal or cross-bar portion, and a spring, F, secured to the cradle or box independently of the swinging bail,and having a forwardly-projecting arm, f, bearing upon the upper side of the stud or knob G, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEO. V. PLUMMER.

' Witnesses:

WV. WV. FLETCHER, CHAS. O. Peron. 

